in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of feræ, the characters of which are these: they have ten foreteeth in the upper-jaw, and eight in the under one; the dog-teeth are long; the tongue is somewhat ciliated; and they have a pocket, formed by a duplicature of the skin of the belly, in which the dugs are included. There are five species, viz. 1. The marsupialis, with eight dugs inclosed in the abdominal pocket. He is about sixteen inches long from the snout to the root of the tail, which is about twelves inches long: he has five toes on the fore-feet, with crooked claws and five toes on the hind-feet, only four of them furnished with claws; the fifth, which is a kind of thumb, is at a distance from the others, and has no claw; the tail is bare from a little below the root: The ears and legs are likewise bare; the eyes are small, prominent, of a black colour, and very lively. The body is of a greyish colour, with some small tufts of black and white hairs upon the back and sides. Under the belly of the female there is a large bag or pocket, formed by a remarkable duplicature of the skin, in which the dugs are contained. This pocket the animal can shut or open at pleasure, by means of a couple of muscles and two bones which are placed before the os pubis, and are peculiar to the didelphis. The interior side of this pocket is full of small glands, which secrete a yellowish stinking substance, which diffuses its odour through the whole body of the animal: but this substance, when dried, loses its disagreeable odour, and acquires a smell like that of musk.—This animal is originally a native of South America. Most authors affirm that they bring forth five or six young ones at a time. As soon as they are brought forth, they creep into the pocket of the mother, where the dugs are situated, and continue there sucking till they be able to run about. When alarmed or frightened, they run into the mother's pocket, and she makes off with them in this situation. The didelphis is an animal of slow motion; a man can easily out run him; but then, he takes to a tree, which he mounts with great facility, and conceals himself among the leaves, or suspends himself by twisting his tail round a branch. Although a carnivorous animal, he is fond of the sugar cane, potatoes, &c. See Plate LXVIII fig. 3.

The second species is the philander, with four dugs, pendulous ears, and a tail bushy at the base. 3. The opossum, with two dugs, and a less bushy tail. 4. The murina, with six dugs. 5. The dorfi-

gera, with the tail bushy at the base, and longer than the body. The females of this species carry their young on their backs, the young having their tails twisted about the tail of the mother. The above four are natives of America.